Austria’s Red Bull Ring offered a little bit of everything to the riders for Round 11 of the MotoGP World Championship, and after two days of mixed conditions the sun shone for Warm-Up on Sunday morning, where both Iannone and Rins showed good pace, with the Italian finishing the session in 4th.

From their grid positions of 8th and 10th, Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins were focused on getting strong starts for the 28 lap race. The Spaniard managed a superb start and rocketed his way up the order and into the front group. Iannone was not so lucky as his aggressive start put him in the middle of the tight first turn. The Italian slotted in just outside the Top 10, and stayed there for several laps before he was unfortunately squeezed out and ran off the track, he dropped to 17th place and spent the rest of the race working hard to recoup positions. As the chequered flag came out Andrea was 13th. Meanwhile Alex continued to run in 6th place until just a few laps from the end when he was overtaken by two riders. This 8th place finish resulted in useful points for Rins.

Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager
“It was a difficult race, we know this track is not the best for us. The first half of the race for Alex was not so bad, but the second half of the race we lost the pace a bit. Unfortunately Andrea had a few small run-offs and lost time. But after these two races, Brno and here, our programme for improvement has become very clear so this good for the rest of the season and also for next year.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“We knew today would not be easy, but in the end Alex made a very good race after a very good start. He kept up strong pace but by the end we suffered a bit and he had to drop the pace which resulted in him losing two positions. But we did the race that we aimed for, which was to try to stay with the second group. He also improved a lot from the first practice onwards in terms of his riding. Andrea had more difficultly and during the battles he made a few small mistakes and had to recover a couple of times, but overall today has not been so bad for a track which we knew wasn’t a favourite for us. I hope Silverstone will suit us better, we’re looking forward to it.”

Alex Rins
“We needed a very, very good start and I was proud of what I did. Also in the first few laps I was able to hold my position, then lap by lap and during the last part of the race when the tyre dropped off it was impossible for me to keep the rhythm and Rossi and Pedrosa passed me. I tried to stay with them but it was not possible. It’s something that usually, with my riding style, I don’t suffer with as much and I can even gain positions late in the race. But in the last two rounds it’s been the opposite. We need to continue to work on the last part of races because the team and bike have a lot of potential. Anyway, I’m excited to ride at Silverstone, I like it a lot, and I hope to do a good job there.”

Andrea Iannone
“It was a difficult one for me, from the beginning I didn’t have very good grip on the rear and I couldn’t accelerate well. On the straight I was losing a lot and riders were overtaking me under acceleration. I recovered a lot on the braking, but it was difficult for me to over-take. When Pedrosa passed me I made a mistake and I lost about 2 seconds, then when I was riding alone I could recover and find a good pace without having to fight against others. Towards the end the tyres dropped a lot but I tried my best, despite my mistakes. I hope Silverstone will be a better race for us. I think with a good setup we can be at the top.”